


Wolves at the Door

by ZeroX



Category: Bloodborne (Video Game), Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro
Genre: Body Horror, F/M, Second Person, Wolves, animal death (?), death of the narrator, its sad also, like a lot of them, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 03:56:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17573411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeroX/pseuds/ZeroX
Summary: Self indulgent sadshit bloodborne AU with my two faves and them being sad. idk what to tell you. its sad. of course its sad. just be ready to be sad about these two again





	Wolves at the Door

You couldn’t help but be curious of this place. The building looms in front of you— a large but now defunct infirmary. There was talk among fellow hunters that the place was riddled with beasts, more than any other place they’ve seen. Sure, other places of healing tended to have several around, after all, those exposed tend to end up there anyway; but supposedly this was  _ different _ . You stare up at it, looking at the windows, noticing many were boarded over, even the ones on the higher floors. You can’t help but wonder why. As you came here, you couldn’t keep the nervous thoughts and rumors out of your head. ‘ _ There was a horrible howling, nothing like other beasts they’ve seen _ .’ ‘ _ Something huge is in there, they saw some enormous creature peek through an unboarded window. _ ’ Every hunter you’ve met who knew about this place was frightened, not only by the supposedly high amount of beasts there; but something  _ unknown.  _ Certainly, you’re frightened too.

But someone must purge these foul beasts. When a hive of diseased wretches forms, someone must destroy it, lest it grow larger. Walking here definitely affirmed the fact that there is numerous beasts here. You had to hack so many down in the streets and into the courtyard to the building. Closer now, you can see that the door is locked, and too large to attempt breaking into. Interestingly, there is a paper pasted upon the door.  _ “None are welcome, as it is far too dangerous to enter. Entry is forbidden.” _ Clearly someone understood the risk enough to warn strangers. It is curious, though, that it’s locked from the inside. Was someone valiantly attempting to keep all these creatures inside? That could explain all the boarded windows. Still, courage or not on the part of a stranger, you must get inside and kill these things. You circle around the building, hoping you can find an alternate way inside.

Along the way, another beast charges forth from where it had been sitting, obscured by a shrubbery. It’s a kind you see often— something that clearly was once man, but now disgustingly stretched out, covered in scraggly fur and with a mouth riddled with sharp teeth. With a few deft movements to get out of the way of its discoordinated clawing; you strike the beast down where it stands. You’re about to move on when you notice something peculiar about it. Wrapped around one of its arms is a metal brace— something seemingly built to hold a limb in place to heal, and a gauze wrap to go with it. Did the horrible creature come from inside there? If it did, there must be a way in nearby. After poking around, you find a window left partially open, seeming to lack any boards to cover it. Why are the rest boarded up, but not this one? Well, regardless, it’s a way inside.

You warily peer inside before squeezing yourself through, trying to move as quietly as you can. If there is as many beasts hidden away in here as it has been rumored, having all of them aware of your presence is a fast way to get killed. No, you must move slowly, carefully. Silent, you look around the room you’ve entered. It’s small, likely a side-office room. It’s immediately strange to you— for a place supposedly overrun with beasts, this place is surprisingly clean. Not just clean, but tidy— well, maybe tidy isn’t the right word. The room is well used, books and papers on a desk, walls lined with shelves. It’s in disarray; not in a beast-disarray, but a man-made one. Nothing’s knocked over, scattered, torn. It’s set up proper, despite the obvious claw marks scraping the floor and furniture. Is someone  _ living _ here? It puts you on edge. Still, you must move on.

Slowly and quietly, you pull open the door leading into what you assume is a wide hallway towards the main entrance. There’s several rooms to the side of the hall, and you walk onwards past them, only to freeze up at the first room. The door is open, claw marks on the wood paneling— and past it, a beast. The second you see its ragged fur, you draw your weapon; only to stop in place. It’s asleep. Curled up on the floor, head rested on a clawed hand facing your direction. You stare at it a bit, slowly noticing several odd things. Firstmost, it has gauze wrapped around its neck and torso— far too neat to have been before it turned. You notice its claws since it’s laying on them, seeing that they’re strangely blunt, almost as if they were sanded down. Then you notice a leather strap bound around its neck through its fur. A collar. An unsettling idea sinks in. Perhaps, someone is  _ keeping _ these things. Perhaps, that seemingly benevolent stranger is actually a madman. You want to shake off that idea, it's far too unsettling, far to unrealistic. How could anyone willingly try keeping these things around? Maybe it’s just leftovers from the attempts to heal them. The doctor could have collared them to shackle them in place, perhaps they got free and couldn’t tear off those bindings. Surely that’s it, right? You can see blood smears upon the floor. If that’s the case… You pity that poor doctor. Taking a deep breath, you opt to move on. As much as you’d like to execute the horrible thing, perhaps take vengeance for an unknown someone who was only trying to help… Attacking it may simply rouse it and alert whatever beasts may be here. No, just move along for now.

You continue forwards, glancing at every open door and seeing more and more rooms with medical equipment bloodied. It’s hard to tell if it was from someone being attacked, or from medical procedure, or something else. So much of it is dried now, so it’s pointless to attempt to try figuring out which. You spot two more beasts, huddled together and sleeping as well. The idle thought of ‘ _ if only they were as peaceful as this normally’ _ crosses your mind, making you frown. No, that’s not possible. There shouldn’t be any endearment to these monstrosities. You continue past, finally making it to the grand foyer of the building. It’s large and spacious, as expected. Of course, the first thing of interest is the door that was locked from the inside before. As expected, it has a large chained lock wrapped around its handles, along with a couple large and heavy objects leaned against it. Someone really didn’t want anyone in here; and yet here you are. So far it has gone smoothly, without any signs of aggressive beasts. It’s strange, discomforting. Too quiet. There’s two clear ways to go from here, up the stairs to the second floor, or down to the basement. Both ways feel like directions to get cornered in, but you feel like, perhaps, there would be more beasts lurking below than above. If worst comes to worst, you may be able to escape through a window, where there’s no exits below. Taking a deep breath, you start up the stairs.

On the next floor, things seem even more uncomfortably orderly. It’s still cluttered, but not disorganized. Controlled chaos, almost. You move to peer into a room, finding yet another operating table smeared with blood. Unlike the others, though, there’s a board hanging on the wall, with papers tacked to the surface. Unable to stop your curiosity, you step inside to inspect it. When you get close enough to see, you find the papers covered in writing; too much to make sense of. Not any kind of madman’s scrawlings, just… overly complicated information. You can’t make heads or tails of it— not because it’s nonsense, but because it’s something you flat out don’t understand. Something about blood, perhaps a doctors notes on ministering, but it’s something beyond what you know of how it works. Really, you’re not sure how any of it works. It never really occurred to you that you don’t understand how something so common works, and it’s a little troubling.

You’re distracted by your thoughts by a low growl from behind; making you flinch and turn around quickly. As expected, there is a beast that has wandered in, hunched and snarling at you. It’s not unlike the others below, wrapped carefully in gauze with a collar around its neck. It doesn’t move to attack right away, glaring you down instead with the single eye peeking through the fabric bound around its head. Drawing your blade, you take the opportunity to lunge forth, striking it down with a single strike to its skull. It hardly gets a chance to resist before it crumples in a heap on the floor. You curse yourself for getting so distracted, especially in a hive of beasts. Old notes from a deceased doctor does nothing good to a hunter. Stepping over the felled creature, you move on. From what you see of the second floor, it’s primarily work rooms along an upper landing. There’s many other beasts about, all sleeping. You can’t help but thank yourself for finding few awake. The number you’re seeing now, asleep or not, is starting to unnerve you. If they were to all awake, you certainly would be be in dire trouble. At this point, you’re finding very little to go off of, fairly certain the best thing to do here now is to burn the whole building while the beasts are inside. Still, you continue upwards. After all, there’s still something unconfirmed.

What of the supposed huge beast? Surely, if it were here, wouldn’t it have been seen by now? Maybe rumors are just rumors, but… you can’t help but be curious if there’s any credibility to it. You make it to the top floor, and you quickly notice it’s different than the last two. Instead of rooms of medical equipment, it turns into proper offices. Two rooms interconnected, lined with bookshelves; clearly well used with the tables inside covered with open pages. Idly, you walk into one, looking over the tables with curiosity. More medical notes, surely ones you won’t understand, but something is distinctly wrong here. This place has to have been abandoned for a while now. Why aren’t the pages dusty? Unnerved, you look around at the shelves, noticing a lack of prominent dust, as if most of the books have recently been pulled from their places. It puts you on edge, knowing that maybe, someone has been here recently. Maybe it would be wise to check the major office that’s down the hall.

The door is closed, unlike all the others so far. Taking a steadying breath, you slowly push it open, ready for something to be beyond it. Inside, you thankfully find no one, or thing, there. But that doesn’t clear the unnerved feeling. What’s inside the room is unsettling in a different way. Centered in the room is a large desk, covered in scattered notes, open books, half-written journals; with a fresh quill and pen beside them. Directly across from the door is a wide window faced to the night sky. There are unlit— but not unburned— candles scattered about, and an old oil-lamp still burning by the desk. To the sides are more books, but also something vastly more horrific than anything you’ve seen so far. A table with jars and bottles, some with unknown things suspended in them— writhing, worming. Several jars are loaded with shiny, wet, round things— eyes. They’re of many sizes, some unnaturally large. It’s disgusting; and while they surely can’t be, you can’t help but feel as if they’re watching you. You feel unsettled in this room, something beyond the horrible objects stowed inside. Something in the air feels unnatural, inhuman. It makes you nauseous, and you find yourself unable to look towards either messy desk, and even the sky ahead feels wrong. Seeing that no one is here, you quickly leave the room, shutting the door behind you. You can’t help but feel like you have seen something wrong, something that can’t be unseen.

Incapable of shaking off a shudder, you quickly move back downstairs, trying to get as far away from that room as quickly as you can. A madman is here, certainly. No one else could gather such horrid things. No one could sit among beasts so cleanly. You make it down to the first floor with no issues, ready to leave… But you can’t stop yourself from eyeing the more narrow stairs heading below. You’re disgusted, unsettled, but… If such horrors are above, what would lie below? No. No, you must leave. Whatever is below is not worth what you’ve seen. This place should burn. You start moving towards the hallway that you came in from, before you’re struck still by an unearthly howl. It echoes through the whole building, making your heart thrum faster with dread. Once it’s done, you stiffen in horrible realization; certainly no creature could sleep through that. You can hear them shuffling, growling to themselves as they move from where they sleep. If you don’t move now, you’re sure to be attacked from all directions. You have to hide, at least for now, before you can sneak away. In a panic, you rush to the stairwell downwards, hiding in the corner where it begins to turn. Sure enough, you see two beasts walk in from the hallways, sniffing and growling amongst themselves. They can smell you, but they don’t seem to know where. The shuffle about, sounding increasingly agitated; and its enough to drive you to move below. As soon as you’re down, you duck behind some storage boxes, trying to quickly get your bearings in the new place you’ve hidden.

The first floor of the basement is somewhat similar to the floor above, more wide and mostly empty rooms with bloodied tables and a couple now very awake beasts milling about, just as agitated as the ones above. A few become distracted with each other, growling in some petty and mindless squabble; but it’s enough to let you move past them to a better place to hide. Whatever howled before howls yet again, startling you as you realize the noise is closer now than it was upstairs. It seems to be coming from behind a shut door, made by some pained beast. Wanting nothing to do with it, you slowly move away from that area, trying to move back upstairs. You pause, though, as you hear something different. A soft whine, something small and distressed. Almost human-like. What is down there? Carefully, you pick your way to the stairwell, moving down.

It’s quiet down here, unlike the floors above now full of growling beasts. It’s also cooler because of the stone walls, clearly the bottom most floor. It’s a large room built for storage rather than work, with very little in it besides one thing. A massive iron-wrought cage. You stand frozen in fear of what lies  _ inside _ it, though. Something equally large as its containment, a huge beast. It’s easily larger than a carriage; seeming gigantic even as it huddles in on itself. Most of its form is hidden by a long dulled brown mane; though you can make out its elongated and spindly limbs, most of its face is hidden by its fur. Despite its size, it whimpers softly. It’s… terrifying, yet somehow pitiful. It almost sounds as if it were in pain, or afraid of something. You take a step closer to examine it, but both you and it stiffens as it realizes that you are present. It moves slowly, trembling in place as it lifts its head to look in your direction. Unlike most beasts you see, its face is almost entirely canine, human-like bone structures nearly gone as its head is split by tooth filled jaws. Despite its fearsome appearance, it doesn’t snarl or growl. Instead, it turns to look, tilting its head enough for its long fur to part past its eye. Again, it whimpers, almost as if it were trying to call out to you. As horrifying as it looks, there’s something… humane… about it. You take another step closer, tentative to see what it would do. Surely, it’s in that cage, it can’t harm you. If it could, then why would it still be in a cage even now? When you move closer, though, you notice something strange. On the bars of the cage, there’s scratches. Some of the bars are bent, as if something hit them with excessive force. The dread starts to well back into you, realizing, no. This is simply another beast, and a horrible mockery of what once was human. It simply is in pain, or starving, or some other kind of distress, and there isn’t a single thing human about it. You start to back away again, getting a better distance from it as you realize how foolish you were for approaching it in the first place. It whimpers louder, lifting its chest off the floor of the cage to turn to face you. It’s still pitiful, even as a beast. It’s a shame how these things must be. Thankfully, though, it’s seemingly secure in there, despite the clear attempts to escape covering its bars. Perhaps you could lay low here for a moment, wait for the beasts above to settle…

You’re torn from your thoughts as the huge creature suddenly howls ear splittingly loud, coupled with the harsh shriek of its claws raking against the metal bottom of its containment. The moment of sereneness entirely gone, the beast smashes itself up against the bars in your direction, making you dart away as the bars dent outwards from the force and almost knock the cage to its side. Oh god, this is terrifying. The thing writhes and howls, raking its claws over the bars and the floor of its cage, even occasionally slashing at itself. It pulls out clumps of its own fur at times, scratching cuts into its flesh before ramming head first into the bars of the cage, stunning itself briefly. While the cage looks like it should hold, you don’t want to even dare taking your chances. No, you need to leave now. You’re better off dealing with many, many beasts than this thing alone. You move to turn around and run up the stairs, only to get startled by something—  _ someone _ standing in the way up. They seem to be surprised by you too.

 

He stands there, staring down at you with a frown. He’s tall, excessively so by any standards, surely the tallest person you’ve ever seen. He’s gaunt as well, almost looking malnourished with how bony his frame is. You notice right away that he has a gun in his hand, instantly making you feel threatened. “Hm, I was wondering if some animal got in, considering how agitated everyone is… I suppose that’s still the case.” He sighs, wiping blood off of his hands and onto the front of his shirt carelessly. It’s strange, the hand of his gloves are like what you would expect from a doctor, but the part that covers the arm is padded by thick leather, covered in tears and scratches. He shifts the gun in his hand to the other to wipe it off too, before pulling the gloves off and draping them over a wrist. He glances past you, towards the snarling and thrashing beast in its cage.

“Please don’t hold this against her; she isn’t typically like this. She can’t control it, you see.” He steps down the stairs to your level, almost seeming to ignore you as he walks closer to the beast. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here. I guess I didn’t notice you come in since I was busy with a patient. Of course, I got distracted away from that by her… I have to sedate her when she’s like this. It’s for her own safety.” He gestures vaguely at the gun in his hand.

You don’t understand what he’s on about. Why would he keep such a thing in a cage? And what ‘patients’ could he have been busy with? You look over the blood smattered on his shirt, and briefly notice what is exposed of his arms are covered in scars. “What are you talking about? Why would you keep such a thing, especially with it restrained and easy to kill?” It doesn’t make a lick of sense to you.

He chuckles darkly, not even bothered as he side-steps a claw raking between the bars. “Why? Well, I intend to cure her. Much like the rest of my patients. She’s my highest priority; though I wouldn’t dare do anything with her until I was certain it would be safe for her.” He smiles wider, smirking ever so slightly. “These ‘beasts’ here are still my patients, regardless of form. What they ‘seem to be’ is irrelevant to what they are, what they once were. They were people, they  _ are _ people. They’ve only lost themselves for now. I intend to bring them back, you see, and find what was lost. People only see them as hideous animals, all humanity gone; but I can see there are things left, suppressed under animal urges. They must not be put down, not until every attempt to help them has been made. No one else seems to understand this concept… They just kill things recklessly based solely on what they see, and nothing more. This is why I demanded that no one enter… Of course, hunters like you don’t listen…”

“You plan on  _ curing _ them? That’s impossible! These things are dangerous, and you’re endangering everyone else by keeping them alive!”

He scoffs, shaking his head.“These things aren’t dangerous, if they’re left alone. Why do you think I’m still alive, now? I’ve been here since the hunt began, working with my patients. If they were so dangerous, I would be dead by now, correct?” He sighs, seeming to be amused by all of this. “Beasts are just another kind of animal, you know? We all are just different animals, in the end. Even you and me. But like any other animal; beasts can be taught. It’s sad to watch them crumple to far more feeble mindsets than what they had with their original humanity, but sometimes you have to teach things to be smarter. Humans survive longer than most animals because of what they know. All I’ve done is taught them to be smarter. Resist the urge to hunt carelessly, and they receive the sustenance they need. Allow someone to touch them unharmed, and they get groomed, cared for. All it takes is a degree of mutual understanding. A simple attempt to communicate.”

“Y-You’re insane! You really think that people can live safely around beasts? After so many have been killed and infected?”

He laughs, drawing a hand to his face. “Insane? Perhaps, but doesn’t everyone think that people who don’t follow the same logic as them are deranged?” Sighing, he runs his hand along the barrel of his gun. “I’ve sacrificed myself to my work. There’s so many things unknown, things that other people can’t think to even try seeing. I’ve sacrificed myself for that, looking for insight towards things not understood. Mankind has so much to learn, but we aren’t willing to see. We are blind in our obliviousness, following only what’s known and denying the unfounded, the undiscovered. I’m doing everything I can to learn more, in order to do something better. No one would understand what I’m doing, why I’m doing it… But I intend to stay here, doing this work until I meet my goal, or I perish. I won’t let anyone stop—“

 

He’s cut off by a howl from upstairs, one that gets added onto by other beasts, unfolding into a cacophony of sound. At the sound, his smug look falters, eyes narrowing in irritation. “You killed one of them, didn’t you? For what reason? Did it  _ attack  _ you? Surely not...” Not waiting for an answer, he digs around under his shirt collar to pull out a small metal tube on a chain. A whistle of some kind. He lifts it to his mouth and blows it in a sharp quick pattern. Almost immediately after, the floorboards above creak and thump with the sound of many moving feet. Soon enough, several beasts come down the stairs, dragging along the body of another. The one you had struck down upstairs prior. They drag the corpse up to him, before setting it onto the ground and moving out of the way. You feel uneasy with so many beasts lingering nearby, doing nothing but sitting in restrained agitation. The man moves to look it over, examining the wound hacked into its skull. He sighs as he straightens up to glare at you. “It did nothing wrong. Not even a swipe towards you, and yet you strike it down at once. I know they wouldn’t have moved to attack, I’ve trained all of them well. Even when faced with a human other than me, I’ve taught them to behave.” He gestures widely towards the beasts around you; all with various healing wounds, bandages, and medical braces. “Aren’t they so well behaved? Even in the midst of someone who killed one of their kind in their own home?”

“Behaved? You speak of them like patients, and then you speak of them like pets! You’re nothing but a lunatic, experimenting on beasts for your own disgusting amusement!”

He sighs, shaking his head. “Such bold claims from someone who would never understand. I’m doing something for the better of all of them— for all of us. Sacrifices must be made, but I never intend to do any of them harm. Things may hurt, but it is done with the intention to improve their health. That is the way of medicine and science. Once I meet my goal, none of them will suffer any longer. None of them, not me, not you, not her.” He pauses, looking over at the giant beast still thrashing about in its cage, bending bars with the impact of its limbs and body. Frowning, he glances back over at you. “I think you hunters have a noble goal. In fact, our goals are similar, in some ways. We both want suffering to end, for people to be safe. Unfortunately our methods are entirely different, and can’t coexist with each other…”

He rubs his fingers over the bridge of his nose in agitation before turning to look at the beast again. “She was once a hunter like you, you know. Not the same, certainly not… She was more caring, compassionate about those suffering. I promised her— I promised myself too, that she wouldn’t be gone. I know she has faith in me.”

You sneer slightly, looking between him and the cage. You could never understand someone who has such blind compassion for clearly violent, vile killing machines. “If…  _ She _ ,” you gesture at the beast snarling and clawing at anything within reach, “is so important to you; why do you keep her bound in a cage? If you can ‘ _ train _ ’ beasts so easily, why not her? She’s just another disgusting beast!”

He looks insulted by the statement, abruptly turning to face you. “She is  _ not _ a disgusting beast! You refuse to understand. I’ve already stated it; she isn’t typically like this. She’s in this cage because she’s dangerous; not only to others, but to her, to myself. She can’t control herself sometimes; entirely unwillingly. Normally I would sedate her so she wouldn’t suffer, but  _ you  _ have interrupted that. I  _ would _ have simply asked you to leave, before all this; but you’ve already proven yourself to be someone I could never trust. I would have let you go, having you promise that you would say nothing to your fellow hunters about this place, but…” He gestures towards the beast corpse on the floor in front of him. “You’re clearly a danger to those around you.” He draws the whistle close to his mouth. “So, I’m afraid I can’t let you leave.”

 

He blows it, and the waiting beasts in the room snap to attention, snarling and growling as they start moving towards you. No longer acting docile, all of them slowly encroach towards you with claws and teeth at the ready. Hissing through your teeth, you swing your blade at them and slash thin cuts through their flesh. The man laughs to himself, watching the whole scene. “Now, you should behave yourself. You’re acting like a wild animal. Let this happen, and maybe you could be a patient as well. I could forgive you…” He chuckles, shaking his head. “...Well, perhaps not.”

No, this isn’t good. You’re getting cornered, and you certainly can’t take all of them at once. You try to run upstairs, only to find even more beasts waiting there. Shit. What the hell do you even do? Maybe there’s a way to distract them? If you can get out of here; find other hunters to come with you and torch this damned place. You could shoot him, but he has a gun too and it might only aggravate his precious beasts more. There’s gotta be something, you need to do something soon. You fire a single shot at the huge beast in the cage in hopes of it making an uproar in distraction. It incites a pained screech from the beast as it impacts the side of its ribcage.

The man instantly sneers angrily at you the second you fire at it. He clenches his fist, glaring sharply. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he snaps. “Now I certainly can’t allow you to leave, as you’ve made this  _ personal _ .” Abruptly, he lifts a hand upwards. Something horrible happens to his arm, the wrist up bending and shifting, almost as if it lacked bones and started writhing. The air shimmers around it, faintly teal and twisting, like the invisible shifting of heat in the distance. You notice very briefly that the side of his face splits in several little slits, spreading wide to reveal lulling eyes. You can’t stare at the hideous debacle for very long; because the shimmering shapes around his hand suddenly collect into visible little lights. They sway and twist, looking like tiny stars before they suddenly lunge forth with little trails behind them. They zoom directly towards you, following even as you scramble away. They hit the ground with teal tinged fiery explosions, trailing even after you move out of their trajectory. One clips your leg, making you stumble and crash to the ground because of the force of the impact and pain; which only lets another strike you in the back. It hurts, indescribably so, burning at your back in a way that only proximally feels like flames, but something indescribably different. You can’t get up, not quick enough to move before a beast sweeps in and grabs your arm and bites into it. You yell out in pain, even more so when another slashes its claws into you. Swarmed to fast to even attempt fighting back, you’re left helpless as they quickly tear you apart. Eventually the pain and fear overwhelms you until your consciousness fades.

 

Hal sighs to himself as he watches the beasts rend the hunter to shreds. He doesn’t like this, he never has. But he absolutely knows that if that hunter left, they would bring back even more. He has to be left alone, no would ever comprehend the lengths he’s going to to try undoing the damage that has been done. Hunters would never understand, they’re too wrapped up with mindlessly killing beasts with no thoughts as to why. The healing church are hacks, fumbling with science and ‘healing’ as a thinly veiled excuse for doing whatever they wish as a religion. The scholars by the lake were onto something, but they’re all selfish in their search for knowledge. Perhaps he’s the only one trying. He has to keep trying.

He turns back to look at her, ignoring the mutilation happening behind him. The dreadful bastard shot her. She seems to be calming down now; staring at the floor as she pants raggedly, shuddering with pain. “Mmh, hold on. I’m coming…” Not caring whatsoever about the risks, he unlocks a small latch to the side, opening a door and walking into the cage. She tries to turn towards him, but stiffens hard as a sharp pang of pain shoots through her. “Stupid bastard,” he mumbles, walking right next to her side. He runs a hand through her long messy fur in an attempt to find the spot. She’s too large to be direly hurt from a single bullet; but that doesn’t stop it from hurting. He’s more worried about blood loss, or even infection. When he finally finds the warm wet spot in her fur, she flinches away from his touch; growling for a second before fading back into a whimper. Shit, even if it’s small, it’s still bleeding a lot. Probably hit a larger vein. “Shh… Shh… It’s okay, I’m going to try staunching the bleeding. It might hurt as I put pressure on it.” He pauses, frowning to himself. It’s much too large for him to simply press a hand to it.

Sighing, he starts unbuttoning his already bloodied shirt, peeling it off to fold and crumple it into a mass. Slowly, he presses it to her wound, making her snarl slightly again. “Setsuna, please… I’m only trying to help.” With his free hand, he runs his fingers through her fur, trying to untangle it and maybe calm her down. Eventually she settles down enough to ignore the pain of the bullet wound and the feeling of him pressing on it, leaving them uncomfortably silent as they’re close together. She’s quiet as she shifts and bends her neck to look at him from under her shaggy mane. It’s hard for him to not frown at the look she gives him.

He moves himself a little closer to her, enough for him to rest his forehead against her ribs. Her fur is almost smothering his face, but he really doesn’t mind. Honestly, he never really minded. She could be whatever and he wouldn’t care. It’s the fact that she isn’t how she used to be— how she can’t be how she once was— is what is deeply upsetting to him. He flinches slightly as she suddenly moves, lifting her monstrous, bony arm above him to set her hand next to him. He looks up at her worriedly, now that she’s mostly facing him properly. Even when she’s mostly calm like this, he can’t help but feel a little intimidated by her. She’s undeniably fearsome, and she could tear him apart so easily if she wanted to. She stares down at him, making a little agitated throat noise before craning her head down to bump against his side. He stumbles as she does, easily knocked over by the slightest of gestures, but he stays where he is, pressed against her. It hurts him to see her like this. Displaying what he hopes is what’s left of her original self. What he hopes he can return.

Trying to force himself to not frown, he presses himself back up against her head and neck. He’s lost track of where the wound is, and it takes him a second to refind it and go back to pressing the fabric against it. Taking a deep and shaky breath, he moves to wrap his other arm around her neck, burying his face into her fur. “Don’t… Don’t worry… I’ll get this fixed… It won’t… It won’t always be like this…” He shuts his eyes, almost desperately huddling closer. “I can do this. I have to… Things will be okay again…” She makes a slight throat noise before nuzzling her head against him. He just wishes that she could speak to him, do anything that was genuine confirmation that she’s still in there— nothing that’s probably just his desperate mind reading into animal behavior. It’s hard for him to breath steady, and not sound like he’s cracking. “It’s going to be okay… It just takes time…” He’s not exactly sure if he’s telling her that, or himself.


End file.
